“I know nothing about you,” I said.
The expression was full-fledged now, an evil grin, then his face returned to being stoic.
“You are in over your head,” he said.
I knew I was, but I couldn’t turn away. Not until I found her.
“All I want is my sister.” And to feel your hands on the small of my back, I thought. My head resting on your knee. Your grip on my neck, on my shoulders. Your hands all around me.
“I will give you what you want, in exchange for your obedience, non-sexual only. There will be no penetration, touching or licking of the genitals. But youmustpromise to leave once the time is up. You must forget about your sister.”
I titled my head. Was this man out of his mind?
“You expect me to let her go?”
“Your sister will be fine.”
“You can’t promise me that.”
The shock at my response registered on his face, and a coldness covered him. “It’s your choice,” he said. “If you go back to Club Hades, you will find trouble. With me, I can give you what you came here for. Your sister is safe now.” The word ‘now’ hung in the air, an urgent word. What the hell did he want, if not sex?
I needed to do something. For Hazel.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
He adjusted his watch, then handed it to me. “That starts your time. You must be hungry,” he said.
I tilted my head. The man was so quick to shove me out of the club, then to buy me, stuff me in the back of his car, and now he wanted to feed me?
“Go down the hallway. The door to the right is the kitchen. If Donna is awake, she will fix you something. If not, help yourself.”
“Help myself?”
“My home is yours.” There was that word again. My lips must have puckered, because he flinched. “But do not go downstairs.”
Before I could get the words ‘what’s downstairs’ out of my mouth, Zaid was gone. A candle blew out with him. I didn’t even know there was a downstairs. I thought we were on the ground level.
I extinguished the rest of the candles in the room, then looked down the empty hallway. I would welcome a kind face, but I hoped, at this late hour, that Donna, whoever she was, was asleep. No one should be working this late.
The kitchen was stark. One flip of a switch and the whole massive room was brightly lit. A refrigerator twice the size of a bed was against one wall, a double-doored pantry, various goods, fruits, and breads laid on the counter. I grabbed an apple, the crunch of its flesh so loud, I almost wanted to shush myself for interrupting such a quiet space. Two large windows near the sink overlooked what I assumed was the backyard, but at night, I couldn’t see anything. How much property did Zaid own? Was it only the house, or was there more to it? More to him?
Downstairs. What was downstairs? Zaid provided security to a place like Club Hades, but had enough cash to spend on a stranger for non-sexual servitude, and enough money to have a driver and a home in the mountains. It seemed strange. Downstairs must have been where he kept his secret lair. Maybe he ran drugs, or wasthedrug lord, and that’s why he knew Hazel. She had experimented with drugs once. And then there was Eric. Maybe that’s what Eric did too. Or maybe Zaid truly did security, but he had so much blackmail on his business associates, that he could pay for a place like this.
From the outside, the house looked big, but inside? It seemed never-ending. Most of the doors were closed, but I opened a few of them. An empty bedroom, light from the open door in a long strip on the rug. The walls of another room covered in books, a small desk near a window.
But one door was left open, and there was enough light to illuminate a small set of stairs, leading down. Zaid had said not to go downstairs. I wasn’t supposed to go there.
He couldn’t be hiding anything that bad. It was probably a spanking bench, like at Club Hades. I had already seen that. Maybe he wanted to surprise me.
As I walked down the steps, holding my breath for that inevitable loud creak to signal my intrusion, different instruments covered the walls. Long straps of leather. A set of handcuffs. A black hood. A collar connected to two cuffs. But the further I went down, the darker it got. I felt the wall for a light switch, but there was nothing. A drip of water, or something wet, landed on my cheek. I flinched. How could a man with this much money have a leak?
Then there was the coarse sound of someone breathing.
My eyes adjusted slowly, and I waited, unsure of what to do in the pitch black. Someone,somethingwas down here. I wasn’t alone.
The harsh outlines of bars separated a section of the floor from the rest of the space. A lone figure was crouched on the ground, their white hair glowing. It was a small person. Thin and frail. The arched shoulders reminded me of someone, a woman. But I couldn’t place her. She was alone down here. In the dark. Was this what he wanted to do to me?
The woman glanced up at me. With just enough light from the upstairs, her turquoise eyes glimmered. Pleaded for safety. Eyes like my own.
Hazel.
